Cancer Cachexia

Cachexia: A systemic wasting of muscle tissue, with or without loss of fat mass, that accompanies a chronic disease

"The 1931 Nobel laureate in medicine, German Dr. Otto Warburg, MD, PhD., first discovered that cancer cells have a fundamentally different energy metabolism compared to healthy cells. The crux of his Nobel thesis was that malignant tumours frequently exhibit an increase in anaerobic glycolysis—a process whereby glucose is used as a fuel by cancer cells with lactic acid as an anaerobic by-product—compared to normal tissues. The large amount of lactic acid produced by this fermentation of glucose from cancer cells is then transported to the liver. This conversion of glucose to lactate generates a lower, more acidic pH in cancerous tissues as well as overall physical fatigue from lactic acid build-up. Thus, larger tumours tend to exhibit a more acidic pH.

“This inefficient pathway for energy metabolism yields only 2 moles of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) energy per mole of glucose, compared to 38 moles of ATP in the complete aerobic oxidation of glucose. By extracting only about 5 percent (2 vs. 38 moles of ATP) of the available energy in the food supply and the body's calorie stores, the cancer is "wasting" energy, and the patient becomes tired and undernourished. This vicious cycle increases body wasting. It is one reason why 40 percent of cancer patients die from malnutrition, or cachexia. Hence, cancer therapies should encompass regulating blood-glucose levels via diet, supplements, non-oral solutions for cachectic patients who lose their appetite, medication, exercise, gradual weight loss and stress reduction.”

"Large tumours produce much lactic acid that is reconverted in the liver into glucose in a process that consumes much energy. It is of positive benefit to block this conversion by taking hydrazine sulphate or [cesium] chloride. The main benefits are weight gain and increased energy that are especially important in the last stage of cancer, called cachexia. In addition, tumour growth may be inhibited, in some instances tumours gradually disappeared." –Walter Last